Weekly Information about Bright Comets (2007 July 28: South)

It brightened more rapidly than expected, and reached to 7.2 mag on July 14 (Maik Meyer). It will be fading gradually after this. It kept observable in good condition for a while in the Northern Hemisphere. However, it moves southwards very fast in August. It is only observable until mid August in the Northern Hemisphere. On the other hand, it became observable since mid July in the Southern Hemisphere.

It became brighter than expected, and reached to 13.2 mag (May 12, Carlos Labordena). However, it is already not observable. In the Southen Hemisphere, it will be observable again at 15 mag in November. But in the Northern Hemisphere, it will never observable again.

Excellent great comet, few times in a lifetime, for southern people. It reached to -5.5 mag on Jan. 14 and 15, brighter than Venus, and visible even in daytime. Then it appeared in the evening sky in the Southern Hemisphere and many people enjoyed a fantastic view of a beautiful great comet, a enormous curving tail with so many striae over 50 degrees. Now it is observable both in the evening and morning. It has already faded down to 12.6 mag (July 6, Walter Ruben Robledo). In the Southern Hemisphere, It keeps observable almost all night until the comet has gone. It will never be observable again in the Northern Hemisphere.

It passed near by the earth in mid April, and reached to 7.6 mag (Apr. 18, Juan Jose Gonzalez). It locates high in the evening sky, and it is observable in good condition. But it already faded down to 11.4 mag visually (June 18, Carlos Labordena), and 14.1 mag by CCD (June 23, Ken-ichi Kadota). It keeps observable in good condition in the Northern Hemisphere until the comet has gone.

It passed near by the earth in early April, and reached to 8.7 mag (Apr. 10, Werner hasubick). Then it faded down to 11.8 mag on May 26 (Seiichi Yoshida), and became too low to observe in the evening. Now it is not observable. Although it has been unobservable for a long time, now it is appearing in the morning sky finally.

Now it is 15.4 mag (June 12, Ken-ichi Kadota). It will reach to 14.5 mag in summer. It moves in the southen sky, and it is observable in good condition in the Southern Hemisphere. However, it will never be observable again in the Northern Hemisphere.

Now it is bright and visible visually at 13.8 mag (July 21, Bob King). It will be observable in very good condition at 14 mag from summer to autumn. However, it was not discovered at the previous apparition in 1999. So it may be bright temporarily in outburst.

It will reach to 11 mag in 2008 spring. It will keep bright for a long time, however, it keeps moving in the southern sky for a while after this. In the Southern Hemisphere, now it is low temporarily. But it will be high after this, then it keeps observable in good condition until 2008 summer. In the Northern Hemisphere, it will appear at 13 mag in November in a short time, but very low and hard to observe. However, it will be visible visually at 11 mag in the evening sky from March to June in 2008. Then it becomes unobservable again. But it will appear in the morning sky again at 13 mag at the end of 2008, then it keeps bright and observable for a while.

It will reach to 10.5 mag and will be observable in good condition in 2008 autumn. Now it is 15.0 mag (July 15, Michael Jager), brightening as expected. It keeps observable in good condition for a long time while the comet is getting brighter slowly.

It was 17.5 mag on June 17 (Michael Jager). Now it must be brightening up to 15.5 mag. However, because it has been locating very low, few observations have been reported since June. It will approach down to 0.4 A.U. to the sun on Oct. 28, and it is expected to reach to 6 mag. However, the condition in the Northern Hemisphere is very hard. It will be unobservable soon. After conjunction with the sun, the comet will be brighter than 11 mag in late September, and will be 8 mag in mid October. But it locates extremely low, slightly over the horizon in the morning sky. It goes to the southern sky in late October, then it will never be observable again. In the Southern Hemisphere, it will appear in the evening sky at 7 mag in early November. Then it keeps observable while fading gradually, although it will not locate very high.

In the Southern Hemisphere, it is observable in the evening sky until early August while the comet is fading gradually down to 16 mag. In the Northern Hemisphere, it is not observable until when the comet becomes fainter than 18 mag. It was not discovered in last autumn when the comet located in the good condition, so it may fade out rapidly after this. CCD observers reported the comet extremely faint, fainter than 18 mag, after mid June.

It has been visible at 13.5 mag for a long time since 2005 autumn until 2006 spring. However, it has already faded down to 16.7 mag (June 23, Ken-ichi Kadota). Fine tail is visible on CCD images. It is getting lower gradually, and will be too low to observe in September.

It had been observed while brightening rapidly until the perihelion passage on Apr. 19, although it located extremely low in the evening sky. It reached to 6.7 mag on Apr. 17 (Juan Jose Gonzalez). In the Southern Hemisphere, it appeared in the morning sky at 7.8 mag in early May (May 9, Alexandre Amorim). Then it is fading rapidly, and it has faded down to 10.9 mag on May 27 (Ken-ichi Kadota). Now it must be fainter than 15 mag. It will not be higher than now in the Northern Hemisphere after this, and it will fade out rapidly.

Appearing in the morning sky after long time blank since last winter. It must be already bright as 16 mag. It will reach to 14 mag in next winter, and will be observable in good condition. It is expected to be visible visually. It keeps observable in good condition for a long time until 2008 spring.

Now it is 16.5 mag (Apr. 9, Ken-ichi Kadota). No observations have been reported since June. However, the fading is slow. The comet will be fainter than 18 mag in 2008. In the Northern Hemisphere, it keeps observable until that time.

Now it is 17.2 mag (June 20, Ken-ichi Kadota). It will reach to 12 mag in 2008 summer. In the Northern Hemisphere, it keeps observable almost all time until that while the comet is brightening gradually. However, it goes to the southern sky and will never be observable again in the Northern Hemisphere after that.

First return of a new periodic comet discovered in 1998 at 14 mag. It was recovered at 18 mag in May and June. It is a bit fainter than this ephemeris, but almost as bright as predicted. It will reach to 16 mag until autumn.

Appearing in the moring sky. No observations have been reported since January. But it must have already brightened up to 16.5 mag. It will reach to 13.5 mag in the southern sky in 2008 spring and summer. In the Southern Hemisphere, it keeps observable for a long time after this. However, it is only observable until autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, when the comet brightens up to 15 mag. Then it will be observable again at the end of 2008, when the comet will already fade down to 15 mag.

It reached up to 4 mag in 2006 autumn. But it had faded down to 10.5 mag on Jan. 11 (Carlos Labordena). It had been unobservable for a long time since that, but now it is appearing at dawn again. Now it is 16.8 mag (May 27, Ken-ichi Kadota), fading rather rapidly. After this, it keeps observable until it becomes fainter than 18 mag in autumn.

New bright comet. It will be fading gradually after this, and will be fainter than 18 mag in October. It must have been locating high at 16.5 mag since spring, but it was not discovered. So it may fade out rapidly after this.

Now it is 17.5 mag (July 16, Michael Jager). It is outside of Jupiter's orbit. So it keeps 17 mag for a long time until 2007 summer. It keeps locating high and observable in good condition for a long time after this because it moves in the northern sky.

Now it is 18.1 mag (Apr. 14, Maciej Reszelski). It is observable at 17.5-18 mag until autumn. It was discovered at 18 mag in 2006. It is a distant periodic comet, and it keeps observable at 18 mag for 4 years until 2009.